Intl. Urban Film Festival announces winners

TEHRAN -- The 3rd International Urban Film Festival announced winners during a ceremony at the Milad Tower on Sunday.

The ceremony was attended by Tehran mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf and several renowned cineastes including Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, Majid Majidi, Parviz Parastuii, Asghar Farhadi and Ali Mo’allem who are also members of jury of the festival.
The special jury award of the festival was presented to veteran director Bahram Beizaii for his authentic depiction of urban life in his films. Abdorreza Kahani’s “Twenty” and Abolhassan Davudi’s “Homeland” shared the festival’s Selected Film Award.
Although Asghar Farhadi’s “About Elly” and Majid Majidi’s “The Song of Sparrows” participated in the gala, they did not compete since their directors were members of the jury.
The following is the list of winners in the national Competition section:
Best animation: “Behind Me” (Kiarash Asadizadeh)
Best video film: “Lost Moments” (Kereshmeh Afsari)
Best short film: “We will sit and Talk after Lunch” (Ramin Parvin)
Best regional film: “The Sun Build a City” (Mohammadreza Qolipur)
Best documentary: “The Empty Place” (Amir-Naeim Hosseini)
The following is the list of winners in the International Competition section:
Best feature film: “Night Bus” (Juanjo Jiménez)
Special Jury award: “Everything is Ok” (Akjoltoy Bekbolotov)
Best Documentary: “100-year, Municipality” (Orod Attarpour)
Best Children and Young Adult Film: “Like Stars on Earth” (Aamir Khan)
Best Experimental Documentary: “My Winnipeg” by Guy Maddin
A total of 1100 Iranian films were submitted to the secretariat of the gala out of which 360 films were selected for screening. The secretariat of the festival also received 940 films from foreign countries.
The festival was held in Tehran from March 2 to 7.
Photo: Abdorreza Kahani (R) received an award from director Mohammad-Ali Najafi for “Twenty” during the closing ceremony of the 3rd International Urban Film Festival at Tehran’s Milad Tower on March 8, 2009. (Mehr/Baqer Nasir)